Next year, there will be another cultural festival to be called `Jak Carnival`Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo officially inaugurated People`s Cultural Festival at the National Monument (Monas) area, here, Sunday.
The festival was organized to commemorate the National Youth Pledge Day, Kris Budiharjo, the chairman of the festival organizing committee, said.
The festival was also held to support the governor`s program that will make Jakarta as a national cultural center based on Jakarta`s native culture of Betawi.
Over 10,000 people consisting of students and representatives of various ethnics in Indonesia, took part in the festival.
The festival would be recorded in the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI) as a cultural festival having the largest number of participants, Budiharjo said.
Governor Joko Widodo, who is popularly known as Jokowi, said the capital city will organize an annual cultural festival called "Jak Carnival" starting next year.
"Next year, there will be another cultural festival to be called `Jak Carnival`," Joko Widodo said.
The planned "Jak Carnival" will be organized coinciding with the commemoration of the anniversary of Jakarta, he added.
Jakarta celebrates its anniversary on June 22 every year. This year, the city`s 485th anniversary was celebrated from May 27 to June 24, with 55 cultural and expo activities
"We will begin the preparations in January. Hopefully, it will be better than this festival," Joko Widodo said referring to the Jak Carnival.
The cultural festival is aimed at encouraging young people to love the country`s various culture and arts, he said.
On Oct. 28, 1928, during the struggle of Indonesia`s independence, a group of young men and women from many islands had assembled in Jakarta to pledge that they would be united under one motherland called Indonesia, one nation called Indonesia and one language - Bahasa Indonesia.
Since then, the Indonesian people have commemorated Youth Pledge on October 28 every year.
(I025)
Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
